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The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria
, also known as for short, is a Japanese light novel series written by Eiji Mikage, with illustrations by Tetsuo. The first volume was released on January 7, 2009. Currently, there are 6 published volumes published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko label. Plot Synopsis ''The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria tells the story of Kazuki Hoshino, who is almost madly attached to his everyday life, and his antagonist Aya Otonashi, who suddenly transfers into his class at the end of the school year—for no less than the 13,118th time. Without hesitation, she announces her intent to “break” him. Kazuki's struggle to defend his everyday life begins, and the many secrets it is built on start to come to light. Volume 1 Kazuki Hoshino, a teenager in high school, cherishes the "everyday life" he shares with his friends Haruaki Usui, Kokone Kirino, and Daiya Oomine, as well as his crush, Kasumi Mogi. This normalcy is shattered, however, by the sudden appearance of a mysterious female student who transfers to his school in the middle of the year--a change that Kazuki is inexplicably already aware of. After introducing herself as "Aya Otonashi," the girl interrupts the class abruptly and orders everyone to write her name on a piece of paper. When Kazuki writes the name "Maria" on a whim, Aya, surprised and angered, accuses him of toying with her and drags him out of the classroom. She explains to Kazuki that she, he, and the other students are trapped in an alternate reality she calls the "Rejecting Classroom" where the same day, March 2nd, repeats indefinitely; she has already transferred to Kazuki's class 2,601 times. By writing the name "Maria," which Aya used on her first transfer, Kazuki has unknowingly revealed that he can remember previous iterations, an ability which only Maria and one other person, the owner of the wish-granting "box" that created the "Rejecting Classroom," should have. Aya's goal is to identify the owner and obtain the "box," but she has failed countless times, resorting to the name-writing ploy out of desperation. Enraged that Kazuki has risen to such bait after thwarting all her genuine plans, Aya accuses Kazuki of being the owner and orders him to give the "box" to her. When Kazuki explains that he does not know how to, Aya resolves to pursue him relentlessly until he does and also reveals that the "Rejecting Classroom" can end another way--through the death of the "box's" owner. Characters Main characters : Kazuki is the protagonist of the Hakomari series. He is a completely ordinary high school student who loves idle chatter with his friends and Umaibōs, a Japanese snack. The story begins when Kazuki is offered a box by O. Kazuki however refuses the box because the only thing that he wishes for is a normal everyday life. Because of Kazuki's disinterest in the box and his will for an everyday life, O becomes interested in Kazuki. O gives boxes to several people around Kazuki, and before Kazuki knows it his everyday is being destroyed in several different ways. O makes it his mission to study Kazuki in these different scenarios until he believes Kazuki will give in and use a box himself. One day, he is suddenly antagonized by Aya Otonashi — although he has never met her before. She threatens to "break" him. : Maria is a beautiful but unsociable girl with a resolute personality. She transferred into Kazuki's class on March 2nd — almost at the end of the school year. Maria is very stern in her actions and beliefs. She expressed her wish to "break" Hoshino at the very beginning. There is one however one thing that Maria is terrified of, and that is killing someone else. No matter the circumstance, Maria refuses to kill anyone even if it meant saving Kazuki's life. Maria cares deeply for other people because of her wish to become a box herself and is willing to sacrifice her own memories in order to give other people a place where they can be happy inside her box. Supporting characters O': 'O' (not to be confused with the numeral 0, "zero") is the main antagonist of the series and the giver of the wish-granting boxes. Throughout the series, 'O' demonstrates a fascination with Kazuki Hoshino (who rejected her offer of a box before the events of the story) that motivates her to alter and observe Kazuki's life by giving boxes to the people around him. A supernatural entity whose appearance constantly changes, 'O' describes herself as a "vector," a form and purpose that was given to a much larger, transcendent but ultimately purposeless being with the ability to grant wishes. Daiya Oomine later realizes that 'O' was created as a result of Maria Otonashi's initial wish that became The Flawed Bliss, with Kazuki Hoshino serving as 'O's counterpart, The Empty Box. At the start of the series, 'O' considers Kazuki to be very dear, but after coming to the realization of her origins, 'O' takes on the appearance of Maria's deceased older sister and declares Kazuki to be her enemy. Calculating and emotionless, 'O's one ultimate motivation seems to be the observation of interesting humans and the "groaning of their hearts." : Kokone is a bright and beautiful girl who cares a lot for her friends, but is meddlesome at times. She and Daiya have known each other since childhood, and their mutual verbal abuse has become legendary among their classmates ever since. Kokone is a very outgoing person. She likes to tease Kazuki, Haruaki and Daiya, who often tease her back. : A self-centered and arrogant student who dyes his hair silver and wears three piercings in his right ear. He is the class president of the second year students and a shrewd friend of Kazuki's. : Kasumi is the girl who has won Kazuki's heart. She is docile, silent and expressionless. Kasumi lived a normal life going to school, however she was always depressed. Since she never showed any emotions herself, always forcing a smile onto her face, and was never happy, she thought everyone else must be faking it too. She thought nobody would ever notice her, until one day Kazuki ran towards her after she left school asking if she was okay, because she seemed bothered. Mogi denied having anything bothering her, but at the same time she fell in love with Kazuki as he noticed that her smile was fake. : Haruaki is a cheerful but frivolous baseball ace. He often hangs out with Kazuki and Daiya. Media Light Novels | ISBN = 978-4-04-867461-4 | ChapterList = | Summary = Kasumi Mogi is the owner of the box that creates the rejecting classroom. Prior to being confronted by O and obtaining the box, she had hit by a truck and was in a critical condition. She felt like she wasn't ready to die now that she had finally found a reason to keep living, which was the boy she fell in love with. In order to be able to tell Kazuki how she felt about him she wished for the rejecting classroom. The rejecting classroom repeated the same day for thousands of days. Inside the box, everyone forgot their memories each day and saw everything as normal everyday life. There were however four people inside this box that could remember. Kasumi Mogi, the creator of the box could remember each day, however she never made it known to the others in order to hide that she had created the box. Being the center of the box, even if someone else did find out that Kasumi created the box, they would forget about it the next day, even if they did remember everything else. The other person who could remember is Kazuki Hoshino . The reasons why Kazuki could remember are not entirely specific, other than it is Kazuki's will to continue living an everyday life. Because Kazuki longed for the everyday life more than anything else, he was able to notice that he was not living an everyday life. Aya Maria Otonashi could also remember, due to the fact that she herself was a box. The last person who could remember was O who was impersonating Haruaki Usui in order to observe Kazuki from up close. After Kasumi Mogi was unable to take it anymore, and being unable to get Kazuki to accept her confession, she kills herself after killing Maria and Kazuki. O, however, wants to observe Kazuki inside the box for longer, and so he continues the box, this time with Maria Otonashi as Kasumi Mogi. Everyone else, including Kazuki thought that Maria was Mogi this time, and saw it as completely normal. Maria knew otherwise, and after explaining everything to everyone else, they conceived a plan. Kazuki however had realized that Haruaki was actually O and made up his own plan to go against him. After they threatened O using Maria's box, O decided to end the rejecting classroom, but he told Kazuki that his everyday life would never be the same again. After talking to Mogi again, Mogi confessed her love one last time and accepted her fate in the real world. Kazuki finally ended the rejecting classroom as he broke the box. After the box ended, Mogi ended up surviving the car accident, but is still in the hospital from her injuries. Everyone else goes to visit her. | OriginalTitle = 空ろの箱と零のマリア | LicensedTitle = Rejecting Classroom | TranslitTitle = Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria }} | ISBN = 978-4-04-868012-7 | ChapterList = | Summary = | OriginalTitle = 空ろの箱と零のマリア〈2〉 | LicensedTitle = Sevennight in Mud | TranslitTitle = Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (2) }} | ISBN = 978-4-04-424115-5 | ChapterList = | Summary = | OriginalTitle = 空ろの箱と零のマリア〈3〉 | LicensedTitle = Kingdom Royale (I) | TranslitTitle = Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (3) }} | ISBN = 978-4-04-868595-5 | ChapterList = | Summary = | OriginalTitle = 空ろの箱と零のマリア〈4〉 | LicensedTitle = Kingdom Royale (II) | TranslitTitle = Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (4) }} | ISBN = 978-4-04-886733-7 | ChapterList = | Summary = | OriginalTitle = 空ろの箱と零のマリア〈5〉 | LicensedTitle = Wish-Crushing Cinema (I) | TranslitTitle = Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (5) }} | ISBN = 978-4-04-891251-8 | ChapterList = | Summary = | OriginalTitle = 空ろの箱と零のマリア〈6〉 | LicensedTitle = Wish-Crushing Cinema (II) | TranslitTitle = Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (6) }} References External links *http://dengekibunko.dengeki.com/newreleases/978-4-04-867461-4/ *[http://dengekibunko.dengeki.com/ Dengeki Bunko's official website] Category:Dengeki Bunko Category:Light novels